‘Dictator Hunter’ Reed Brody to open Night of the Dictatorships 2017

On 8 September, human rights lawyer Reed Brody will visit The Netherlands in September. Brody is the keynote speaker during the Night of the Dictatorships at ProDemos in The Hague. He will also speak at the Night of the Dictatorships at Arminius in Rotterdam later that night. Finally, Brody will join the Night of the Dictatorships in De Balie in Amsterdam on Saturday, September 9th.

Reed Brody rose to fame through his efforts and success in getting Hissène Habré , the exiled former dictator of Chad, prosecuted. His work on legal proceedings against Habré and several other dictators has earned him the nickname ‘The Dictator Hunter’. As keynote speaker on the Night, Brody will provide audiences with unique insight into the world of the dictators as well as how to stop them.

The prosecution of Hissène Habré

The case against Hissène Habré attracted much attention in the last few years. Never before had a former head of state been tried in another country, by another country, in this case Senegal. Habré ruled the Republic of Chad from 1982 until 1990 and was accused of systematically torturing and liquidating thousands of political opponents. A special tribunal in Senegal found Habré guilty of crimes against humanity, including torture, rape, and sexual slavery. Habré was sentenced to life in prison. As counsel to Habré’s victims, Brody was a driving force in Habré’s prosecution. Brody was also involved in legal proceedings against Augusto Pinochet (Chile), Jean-Claude ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier (Haiti), and Idi Amin (Uganda). He is currently working with victims of Yahya Jammeh, the former Gambian dictator who fled Gambia in January 2017.

Night of the Dictatorships

The Night of the Dictatorships serves as a counterpart to the International Day of Democracy, set up by the United Nations to be celebrated every year on September 15th. The Night of the Dictatorships challenges participants to think about freedom, democracy and the rule of law by discussing these themes and dictatorships around the world in various ways: from debates to lectures, from dinners to film screenings and from escape rooms to interviews.

The Night of the Dictatorships in The Hague is organised by ProDemos (House for Democracy) and the Rule of Law together with many partners. In other participating cities, the Night is organised by De Balie (Amsterdam), Arminius (Rotterdam), and Tivoli Vredenburg (Utrecht). These partners work together closely to introduce as many people as possible to the work of Reed Brody.

About Reed Brody

Reed Brody worked at Human Rights Watch from 1998 until 2016. He is the author of Getting Away With Torture, examining the impunity of George W. Bush regarding the treatment of Muslim prisoners, as well as a report on Abu Ghraib, the infamous Iraqi prison.

After leaving HRW, Brody worked on human rights’ cases in the United States and abroad. In January 2017, Brody was elected to the International Commission of Jurists. He has taught at Columbia University Law School as well as guest lectured at several law schools, including those of Harvard and Yale.